Porcelain Palace

Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, had great things in mind when he purchased the Japanese Palace (fig….) in 1717 from his minister General Field Marshal Jacob Heinrich von Flemming (1667-1728). Not only should it serve him as a maison de plaisance – a place where he could withdraw from the strenuous daily life, and relax in an environment distant from the daily proceedings of the Court business – but it should also be a place where he could realize his life-long dream: the construction of a “Porcelain Palace”, a place made solely for the display and presentation of his collection of Asian goods and East Asian porcelains. Built in 1715 at the right side of the Elbe river, the small castle quickly became the

Six chapters treat the holdings of East Asian porcelain, whereas the other four are inventories of the collection of “Weiß sächsisch Porcelain” (chapter seven, white Saxon porcelain), “Braun sächsisch Porcelain (chapter eight, brown Saxon porcelains or stonewares), “Terra Sigillata” (stonewares, today known as Yixing wares) and “Schwartz indianisch und sächsisch schwartz laquirtes Porcelain” (chapter ten, black Indian and Saxon black lacquered porcelain, ….). Although a certain knowledge about the different countries of origin must have existed among Augustus the Strong and other porcelain connoisseurs in the early 18th century, one cannot speak about a scientifically correct differentiation of the Royal porcelain collection in the historic inventories. Despite a rough distinction between “Japanese” and “Chinese”, the various porcelains are mainly grouped in accordance to their coloring and décor. Chapter one, which is an inventory of the group “Japanisch Porcelain” (Japanese porcelain), includes all wares that were decorated in the Imari color palette. Imari - porcelain originally produced around Arita in Japan and named after the port from where it was shipped to Europe – has a distinctive color palette of dark underglaze blue, overglaze red, and bright golden decoration (fig. x). The sumptuous motivs and often large sizes of 17th century Imari porcelains were much to taste of baroque collectors, which is why this kind of porcelain could be found in many European porcelain collections at that time. However, the Japanese were not the only ones to produce porcelain with this kind of color palette. In fact, the Chinese copied the Japanese and produced very similar objects, although the underglaze blue is often of a lighter shade than its Japanese counterparts (fig. X and X). Nevertheless, both groups, “true” Japanese Imari and its Chinese copies, were inventoried in the